30 Jul
An Open Letter To Transient Worship Pastors
Dear Worship Pastor,
I have had hundreds of conversations with worship pastors about wanting, needing, or having to relocate. It has been my observation that a couple of common threads are contributing to this restless desire and/or mandate to find another ministry position. Ironically, neither one of the root common denominators are related to musical or stylistic issues.
My first observation is that there is often confusion between calling and convenience. The primary question you must ask is, “am I called to do this…not just here, but anywhere?” A calling is a personal invitation from God to carry out a unique task. It is a strong inner impulse prompted by conviction of divine influence. And, it is not always convenient.
What is compelling you to do what you do? Convenience responds with, “This is what I was trained to do.” Calling responds with, “This is what I was made to do.” If you are leading worship just because you love to play and sing, because you need to supplement your income, because you enjoy being up-front or because you are not trained to do anything else, then your compulsion might be out of convenience instead of calling.
If, however, you are divinely called to lead worship and believe God also called you to your present place of ministry, then a secondary question you must ask before you consider a move is, “has God released me from my call here?” Even when another place of ministry seems more convenient, appealing, challenging, fulfilling and rewarding you must be reminded that God did not promise that you would always be happy, revered, loved, appreciated or followed. So, until God releases you to go…stay.
My second observation is that musical talent and platform presence may help you secure a worship pastor position but developing leadership and relationship skills will help you keep it. In fact, mandated change in the form of forced termination is often the result of this deficiency and rarely occurs as a result of musical weaknesses. And yet, where are you spending most of your worship leadership preparation time? You will never be able to teach enough new songs to make up for your relational and leadership failures.
Leading music doesn’t necessarily equate to leading people. Meaningful relationships develop as you place more focus on the people than the project. Don’t leave relationships in your wake as you move toward the end result since the process with the people is also ministry. What will your congregants remember most about your worship leadership…how you led them musically while you were on the platform our how you treated them on the way to and from the platform?
God may indeed be calling you to consider a new place of ministry. A change of venue, however, may not settle your restlessness. Until you consider the previous observations and others, you may again experience the same discontent after a couple of years in a new place of ministry.
Posted by Alden Schoeneberg (@alden_t910) on 30.07.12 at 2:31 pm
This is so important for all of us to hear, David. I have left when I wanted to stay and also stayed when I wanted to leave.
There have been times when I’ve had to ask myself the question of calling and search deeply for an answer. For me the times I doubted my calling as a worship pastor were directly related to how difficult and painful it was to keep doing ministry during that particular season in my life. In order for me to regain the perspective I had to imagine myself in a vacuum where the critics and hardships didn’t exist. In that silence I could hear God’s unchanging voice once again. Once quitting and leaving were off the table as options, I was free to lead.
As long as leaving and quitting remain in the front of our minds, it becomes natural to “go through the motions” of ministry. Unintentionally our leadership stalls and our relationships suffer. As a result of our lacking leadership people no longer follow us. We are, in a sense, leading them to lose interest.
Posted by Neil Brown on 30.07.12 at 2:31 pm
An old adage comes to mind here, David: “Wherever you go, there you are.”
Posted by Worship Evaluation » Blog Archive » An Open Letter To Transient … | Harp and Bowl Worship on 30.07.12 at 2:31 pm
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Posted by Jerry Fleming on 30.07.12 at 2:31 pm
I learned early that a long stay was beneficial to me and those with whom I ministered. The problem in this day is that sometimes ministers do not have a choice in their tenure, But, then, that is another blog. Thank you for sharing.
Posted by Jonathan Riggs on 30.07.12 at 2:31 pm
Insightful post, David. What a worship leader does off the stage is always more important that what he does on the stage.
Posted by Shannon Waldron on 30.07.12 at 2:31 pm
I love these words of wisdom! I’m at my very first church and I have been there for 4 1/2 years. I am very thankful that I can say honestly that I was created to lead worship. I received my calling many years ago and nothing gives me more energy and drive for ministry than to do just that. I’m starting a new ministry that is exactly what I felt God’s calling on me many years ago. I’ve been trying to find a balance between getting this new ministry started and being at my current church simultaneously. I needed the reminder that sometimes things are not convenient, personalities and style of communication don’t mesh, but that God never promised it to be perfect and pleasurable at all times. I appreciate the encouragement to continue to just pour myself into the people, and not get caught up in the other things that are frustrating. Thank you.
Posted by Steve Hotra on 30.07.12 at 2:31 pm
Wise and true words. Anyone can sing and play the songs, but having a true heart of servant leadership takes time to develop ( if possible) As a full time music pastor in his mid 50′s, I was called to leave one established ministry ( good pay, health insurance, etc) to go to a church plant ( working a part time job to supplement my income) But I love where God has placed me: in the beginning stages of something fresh and new. A place where I get to develop new worship leaders and tech ( skills and spiritual). God does provide for all of our needs, and He will bless us with new skills for a new season.
Thanks for your insights!
Posted by Bill on 30.07.12 at 2:31 pm
I think that as humans we struggle with treating leading worship differently than any other secular job. So when we become dissatisfied we start looking around for another opportunity. We quickly forget who we are leading and why.
Without keeping our focus on Christ, our leading will be no different than any other secular manager. This Christ-centered focus, changes us from leaders to servant leaders serving the Kingdom, and putting the needs of others before our own desires.
Posted by Tim Studstill on 30.07.12 at 2:31 pm
David, Great thoughts. Recently I heard someone say, “the grass is always greener under your own two feet!”
There are times when God moves us to new areas of ministry, however there are times when God is grooming us to be more like him. New is not always better, Bigger is not always greater, Closer to home is not always where God chooses to plant us, etc.
It seems that the top three things that tend to precipitate change are interpersonal relationships, musical skills and spiritual conflicts (moral/ethical choices). There are so many challenges our “minister musicians” face at church, home and elsewhere…we need to pray for each other and seek to encourage each other. “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8) This applies to “us” and to “them”! We are all on the journey together.
Called for the Journey……
Posted by David Manner on 30.07.12 at 2:31 pm
I received the following post from a Senior Pastor. For confidentiality I have removed his name:
Here’s a question. I’m a senior pastor working with a worship leader. He’s pretty good on a Sunday morning. His talent is apparent. But it’s behind the scenes stuff that aren’t really getting done. I’m staring at a time sheet that he knows to fill out but left his leave time from last week blank. I’ve asked him to email his team members and it doesn’t get done. I’ve supervised him toward fulfilling the job description laid out before him (in which he said he’d fulfill) three times now because things don’t get done.
He was hired for not only his talent but also his resume in which he had experience in administration. The last sit down with him I went over some of these things and his response was “I thought this was more about ministry than about politics. It feels like I have to accomplish all of these little things when I come to work and I just want to do ‘ministry’.”
I see him failing to see that LEADING people in interpersonal relationships (administration basically) is leading people to not trust his leadership. He loves people, he loves music, he’s got a great love for God. But when it comes to leading in the way people need he falls short. The team longs for more direction but they aren’t getting it. He just gets up, sings, all the while directing people to “follow” along since he learns by ear.
So what about these types? Where they feel a STRONG calling to lead worship, they are rooted in that calling, but they just can’t fathom why people aren’t responding to their leadership. And when you come to them with wisdom as to why that isn’t is they get hurt and feel as if you are saying, “You aren’t good enough for this job.” And it’s not that they aren’t good enough. You have just found out, over several months, that they aren’t BUILT for that ministry even though they believe they are.
I have a good idea on what to say to them. That we love them and we need to find a different place for them to use their giftedness (maybe leading but being directed by someone who is able to administrate effectively).
I like the line that says, in a nutshell, “You’re hired for your talent, your fired for your interpersonal relational skill or lack thereof.” What do you say to people who believe they are good at both but in reality they don’t see that they aren’t. That they hold onto the call when their brothers and sisters in Christ see a different result from their ministry than they do.